President Donald Trump was recorded talking to Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma as Trump ranted about keeping Robert E. Lee’s name at military sites. The New York Times got the tape.
The conversation was recorded when Inhofe put Trump on speakerphone at an Italian restaurant in Washington, D.C. The conversation was overheard and recorded by “someone in the room,” the Times reported Thursday.
“All right, my friend,” said Trump. “Are you doing good? We’re going to keep the name of Robert E. Lee?”
Inhofe responded on the tape: “Just trust me. I’ll make it happen.”
Trump piped up: “I had about 95,000 positive retweets on that. That’s a lot.”
Trump seemed to be referring to his tweet last week that Inhofe had promised he wouldn’t change the names of “Military Bases and Forts” and was “not a believer in ‘Cancel Culture’.”
Trump has threatened to veto the Senate’s Defense Authorization Act that overwhelmingly passed last week and would change military base names that honor Confederates. The 86-14 vote margin could easily override a presidential veto. Trump’s conversation with Inhofe appeared to be a push to protect a veto.
On the recorded portion of the phone call, the men mentioned the possibility of someone “resigning” and being given another appointment.
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The White House has not commented on the recording.
